1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clamping or holding apparatus having movably positionable jaws. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tool, such as a wrench, having a set of opposingly located, positionable jaws. The jaws have jaw surfaces which are uniquely configured and positioned such that the jaw surfaces may fully engage five full sides of the smallest hexagonally shaped object within the operating range of the tool and at least four full sides of subsequently larger objects within the operating range of the tool.
2. Description of Prior Art
The prior art consists of a wide variety of wrenches employing jaws in which an effort has been made to improve the tool's effectiveness in gripping standard hexagonally shaped objects, such as nuts and bolts which are commonly referred to as fasteners. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,667 (Caballero), an adjustable wrench having movable V-shaped jaws for securing the workpiece is disclosed. (Col. 1, lines 37-47). While an improvement, this tool is primarily designed to partially engage four sides of the hexagonally shaped fastener by engaging two opposing apices of the fastener (Col. 3, lines 35-41). Because this jaw configuration only partially engages four opposing sides of a fastener at two opposite apices, unwanted rounding off of the apices can occur when sufficient torque is applied to the tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,899 (Baker) is another attempt to prevent the rounding off of the fastener's apices by providing curved drive surfaces. (Col. 2, lines 15-25). By design, the jaws of this tool do not engage the fastener's apices and are limited to engaging two opposing sides of the fastener.